Trade Deficit Widens; Jobless Claims Fall on Data Quirk

By

Conor Dougherty And

Tom Barkley

Updated Oct. 11, 2012 2:13 p.m. ET

The slumping global economy is biting into demand for U.S. made goods and weighing on already anemic growth.

The U.S. goods and services trade deficit widened 4.1% to $44.2 billion in August as a decline in exports outweighed a much smaller decline in imports. The trade gap for the previous month was revised slightly higher.